Logan Linney didn't exactly come out of left field, but you could say he helped the Woodland wrestling team throw a curveball at the Pioneer squad.

A junior who was on the wrestling team for his first two years at Woodland High, Linney initially decided against returning to the squad this season. He wanted to focus his attention more on the baseball diamond, where he is a pitcher and catcher.

Then near the end of winter break, Linney received a phone call from a distressed Jess Hernandez. After all, the Wolves coach was dealing with two weight classes without wrestlers and a season soon winding to a close.

"I looked to the only kid on campus (who could help us fill one of the holes), and it was Logan," Hernandez said. "It paid off (on Wednesday)."

Linney's third-round pin of Pioneer's Max Best at 182 pounds secured a 44-22 Woodland victory and a third-straight Tri-County Conference dual-meet championship. The Patriots were doomed by two first-round pins before Linney finished them off.

Coming off a week in which he practiced with the baseball squad (just after school) and the wrestling team (at 4:30 p.m.), Linney was competing in only his second match of the season.

Of the phone call from Hernandez, Linney said, "I just couldn't say no."

The junior also wouldn't say uncle to Best, who had him knotted up at the edge of the circle before Linney made a change.

"Linney just hit him with a good switch, and put him to his back," Hernandez said.

Linney attributed the pin to the leg strength gained from playing catcher, but Pioneer coach Brandon Monroe saw it differently.

"I expected Max to be in better shape and quicker on his feet. He just wrestled not to his capability," Monroe said.

The two matches which were clearly in Woodland's favor were the two pins preceding Linney's win. Those quick first-round finishes went to 160-pound Emilio Flores, on Bradford Lee, and 170-pound Danny Sandoval, on Brandon Medina.

Until then, Pioneer had been putting up a fight.

Fermin Novoa (106 lbs.) started the Patriots off with an 8-4 victory over Isaac Fargoso. A Wolves forfeit at 112 lbs. gave Pioneer a 9-0 team score advantage.

Monroe was impressed with Schmidthans - "I thought he was going to get pinned in the first period," the coach said, "but he fought off his back the whole match" - while Hernandez said he knew the meet was won for his Wolves when Rominger blanked Lackey.

"I lost to him before, but I wouldn't call it a grudge match," Rominger said, noting an early-season decision that went to Lackey. "I just call it a time I can prove to myself that I can do it."

Once he did, Seth Pritchett of Pioneer and Zeke Stringer of Woodland (132 lbs.) took the mat for what was the most exciting match of the night.

Stringer led 1-0 entering the third round, but then the action picked up. Pritchett executed a reversal, which Stringer countered with a near-fall and a reversal to take a 5-2 lead. With less than a minute remaining, Pritchett scored two reversals - even pulling off of Stringer with 30 seconds left so he could get another shot at a takedown - before Stringer scored an escape for the tie. Then with five seconds left and Pritchett forcing Stringer toward the edge, the Wolves wrestler earned another escape to win the match.

"(Stringer) was on the bottom and was able to squeeze out, what can I do," Pritchett said, visibly downtrodden. "I give him mad credit for being able to get out."

In the next match, Woodland's Eric Richards (138 lbs.) did what Flores and Sandoval soon would - pinning Pioneer's Julian Pineda in the first round.

Carlos Caranza at 145-pounds pulled the Patriots back within striking distance with an 11-3 decision over Sean Conley of the Wolves. That victory left Pioneer trailing Woodland 18-13.

Another key match came next, as Billy Lackey and John Connolly (152 lbs.) went into overtime with a 10-10 tie after three rounds. Connolly, however, scored two quick takedowns in overtime to earn the win. Then came the one-two-three of Flores, Sandoval, Linney.

The match was closed out with two pins and an upset. Pioneer's Jorge Rodriguez got Woodland's Spencer Teuscher on the mat (195 lbs.) and Daniel Sonora of the Wolves did the same to Will Fatta (220 lbs.). Then Pioneer freshman Garrett Monroe, younger brother of the Patriots' coach, surprised Woodland's Vicente Alvarez in the heavyweight match, winning 10-3.